tough race, no question. and i agree, i never thought i would hear myself say this, with newt gingrich on the other hand as well. you're not probably going to see a lot of ticket splitters in the state. this is an important state for romney, it's an important state for obama, but claire has definitely got a tough race ahead of last word on the missouri senate race tonight. thanks for joining me, karen. >> thanks, lawrence. >> tomorrow night here on the last word exclusive, missouri senator claire mccaskill will be with us on that missouri senate race. "the ed show" is up next. good evening, americans, and welcome to "the ed show" from new york. 43 days until the 2012 election. only nine days until the first presidential debate. mitt romney thinks it's fair to pay a smaller tax rate than americans who earn $50,000 a year? you like that? the obama campaign is hammering back. this is getting good. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. >> what's your big idea? >> freedom.

>> now we know. mitt romney loves freedom and he loves his low tax rate. >> so you think it is fair? >> yeah, i think it's the right way to encourage economic growth. >> tonight, richard wolf on mitt romney's definition of fair and economist dean baker on romney's ability to game the tax code with chinese investments. >> my expectation would be in the crunch in october, governor romney is going to be for the entire ticket. he is going to be for todd akin. >> republicans turn to newt gingrich to try to save todd akin in missouri and try to save the senate. howard fineman has the latest. and it is finally explained. it turns out he stacked the crowd with supporters. and it's not the first time. >> i do love that music. i have to tell you. >> good to have you with us

tonight, folks. thanks for watching. mitt romney tried to create a distraction from his 47% comments. instead he gave himself more headaches. late friday afternoon, the romney campaign released the candidate's 2011 tax returns. the romneys paid a tax rate of 14.1% and would have paid an even lower rate if they took all of their deductions. the tax returns put the focus back on the issue of tax fairness in america. romney was asked about his tax rate during an interview with "60 minutes." >> is that fair to the guy who makes $50,000 and paid a higher rate than you did? >> it is a low rate. one of the reasons why the capital gains tax rate is lower is because capital has already been taxed once at the corporate level. as high as 35%. >> so you think it is fair? >> yeah, i think it's the right way to encourage economic growth to get people to invest, start businesses, to put people to work. >> that is hogwash. in mitt romney's world,

americans can be sold on the idea of rich people being taxed less so they create jobs. haven't we tried that? not even ronald reagan could sell that. instead, reagan preached about the need for tax fairness nearly 30 years ago. >> we're going to close the unproductive tax loopholes that allow some of the truly wealthy to avoid paying their fair share. in theory some were understandable, but in practice they sometimes made it possible for millionaires to pay nothing. while a bus driver was paying 10% of his salary. and that's crazy. do you think the millionaire ought to pay more in taxes than the bus driver or less? >> the details in romney's tax returns are at odds with the fiscal beliefs of his own running mate. romney's returns show holdings in many foreign accounts including ireland and the cayman islands. in 2010, let's roll it back. in 2010, vice presidential running mate paul ryan told the truth about offshore accounts. >> we don't want to have a situation where we are

penalizing businesses for keeping their money, their capitol capital, their headquarters and their manufacturing facilities in america. so then rather than having ireland and the cayman islands be the haven for capital formation, the place where you hide your money, why don't we make it america? >> more than 800 pages of romney's tax returns, two-thirds are devoted to foreign investments. maybe this is why romney's returns list the united states of america as a foreign country. you can understand the confusion. romney's blind trust investments also raised eyebrows. romney himself has called a blind trust an age-old rouge. and said you can give a blind trust rules. but in his 2011 returns, romney didn't have many rules about chinese investments. keep in mind mitt romney all along has been the candidate who says that president obama did not stand up to china. on the campaign trail and in the

debates, romney has railed against china's trade tactics. >> my own view on the relationship with china is this. which is that china is stealing our check yul property, our patents, our designs, our know-how, our brand names. they are hacking into our computer, stealing information not only from corporate computers, but from government computers, and they're manipulating their currency. for those who don't understand the impact of that, i have seen it. i have seen it. >> ooh, tough talk, right? none of these things stopped romney from allowing chinese investments into his portfolio. his returns show the romney family owning shares of a chinese oil company. romney dumped the shares this summer. he knew it was going to be an issue. romney also invested in a chinese online media company called yuku. buzz feed reports the site was launched in 2006 and quickly became a haven for downloading illegal american content. hold on a second here now. are we grabbing this?

what did romney tell us china was doing with american intellectual properties? >> china is stealing our intellectual property, our patents, our designs, our know-how, our brand names. >> but you invested in it. i guess all those things add up to a good investment for mitt romney. let's stop right here for just a moment, if we may. all of these details were uncovered in mitt romney's tax returns. this is all stuff we didn't know before last friday. many of them are problematic, to say the least. these are the tax returns romney was okay with showing the american people. we'll let them see this. imagine what's in the returns he refuses to show the american people. romney still has some defenders. oh, yeah, he has some defenders out there, but they have credibility issues of their own. >> nobody is going to vote based on mitt romney's tax returns. he gave 30% of what he earned away. he's a lot more generous than i am. i don't know about the rest of

y'all too, but i'm sort of amaze at the generosity of the romneys. >> well, senator graham is defending romney because graham believes it's an american value to game the tax code. he said it himself, in july. graham said it's a game we play. every american tries to find the way to get the most deductions they can. i see nothing wrong with playing the game because we set it up to be a game. now i just want to point out. and i know we're focused on this election. and going into the new year right after the election, a lame duck session of the congress, we're going to have one hell of a debate about what we're going to cut and what we're going to tax to get our treasury in order. but we've got a united states senator who backs up mitt romney and his rate, saying he is very generous. it's all a game. it's all a big game. make no mistake. romney gamed the tax code. he basically picked his own tax rate and his accountants played around with deductions so they

could hit the predetermined rate near 14%. would you take it? meanwhile, romney still won't explain the specifics of his tax plan for you and me, americans. >> we bring down rates, we limit deductions and exemptions to keep the progressivity in the code and encourage growth in jobs. >> and the devil is in the details. what are we talking about? mortgage deduction? >> the devil is in the detail, the angel is in the policy which is creating more jobs. >> let's get one thing straight. tax cuts for the rich do not create jobs. this is the top marginal tax rate from 1948 to 2010. you be the judge. it's gone down quite a bit. here's unemployment over the same period. it's very hard to argue lower taxes do anything worthwhile for jobs, but romney's plan is even worse than this. not only will rich people get tax breaks, the only way to pay for them is on the backs of the middle class and everybody else.

every wage earner out there. you can serve up a little more can't you? the nonpartisan tax policy center has the bottom line on romney's tax plan. they say, our major conclusion is that a revenue-neutral individual income tax change would provide large tax cuts to high-income households and increase the tax burdens on middle and/or lower-income taxpayers. and yet inexplicably mitt romney is still steering the conversation toward taxes. he was on the stump today in colorado, talking about tax code reform. >> our tax code is extraordinarily complicated. i understand that there are about seven times as many pages in our tax code as in the bible, and it's a lot less interesting. so i want to simplify our tax code. >> romney is walking right into the president of the united states's wheelhouse when it comes to the discussion of tax fairness. the president has been hammering

this message of tax fairness for the past year. fair share. shared sacrifice. he did it again last night on "60 minutes." >> you can't ask me to make student loans higher for kids who need it or ask seniors to pay more for their medicare, or throw people off of health care and not ask somebody like me or mr. romney to do anything? not ask us to do a single dime's worth of sacrifice? >> the obama campaign rubbed salt in the wound by releasing this ad today linking romney's tax returns to his 47% comments. >> mitt romney attacked 47% of americans who pay no income tax including veterans, elderly, the disabled. >> my job is not to worry about those people. >> doesn't the president have to worry about everyone? mitt romney paid just 14.1% in taxes last year. he keeps millions in bermuda and the cayman islands.

he won't release his tax returns before 2010. maybe instead of attacking others on taxes, romney should come clean on his. >> what's going to happen? the american people are going to render judgment on mitt romney based on whether they think he would be a fair-minded leader. romney is making a pitch to the american people by saying that he is fair. but his tax returns and the tax policy he believes in tell a totally different story. this might be a reason why so many people have trouble connecting with mitt romney. >> polls consistently show you trailing and you're not popular in every state almost. in every poll that is shown, more folks view you as unfavorable than favorable. why have you failed to connect with average americans? >> this is a campaign about a choice. as people watch the debates and as they look at our ads, as they hear our speeches, as they focus more and more on the path forward, i'm convinced they're going to conclude as i have that we can't afford four more years

like the last four years. >> but that connection. how have you failed to make the connection? >> i'm pleased that we have a campaign that is taking our message to the people across america, and look, we're going win. >> then again, there are a lot of reasons people have trouble connecting with mitt romney. and one of them is he doesn't understand monthly bills. that's my take on it. how do you understand the middle class? if you're in the middle class and if you're in a lower income than the middle class, are you worried about paying rent? worried about the car payment? got to make sure you pay all the bills that come up every month. people live in this country paycheck to paycheck. if a small business goes out of business, it's about 21 days before it's all over before they shut the doors. that's how tight business can be in this country. but the fact of the matter is we're talking about a crisis. a financial crisis in america right now. we're going to ask before christmas in this big debate in congress, we're going to be asking americans to pay more

depending on who wins this election. mitt romney is not going to ask the wealthiest americans to pay more. he thinks 14% is a damn good rate for somebody who makes $13.7 million. monthly bills, well, they don't really come into play for people like that. but for people who make $50,000 a year, there's such a thing as a lifestyle change. they can't go out and buy the car they want because their tax rate is higher. and it's about fairness. what is fair? would it be a lifestyle change for mitt romney on his tax returns if it showed that he actually paid 36% after making $13.7 million? no. that's the whole point in all of this. the wealthiest americans can serve it up because they have to. we can go back to the old rates in america and turn this treasury around and give our chance and our economy a real chance to grow.

it's been growing under president obama, 30 months of private sector job growth. and that's with no help with the republicans. but if romney gets in, all the favors will go to the wealthiest americans and all the burden will go on to the middle class, who at this hour, are still trying to figure it out. monthly bills, the republicans have no clue what they are all about. that's why they can't connect with the middle class in this country. get your cell phones out. i want to know what you think. tonight's question. do you think mitt romney paid his fair share of taxes? text a for yes. text b for now to 622639. you can always go to our blog. we'll bring you results later on in the show. and you know what? the republicans always come up with this. how much do you want me to pay? how much do you think i should pay? that's not the question. the question is are you willing to help the country turn our finances around? are you willing to be a member of the crowd that's willing to do something called economic

patriotism to help this country dig out of a hole because we gave tax cuts for the wealthy? because we went into wars and didn't pay for them, because we have big pharma. are you willing as a millionaire to do more for the country? that's what this election is about. and romney has got a plan that's not going to ask the wealthiest americans to do more. that's it the difference. romney's attempt to reset his campaign didn't get very far with the "60 minutes" interview and his answers on tax fairness. richard wolf and dean baker will join me next. stay with us.

coming up, mitt romney says he has paid his fair share of tax. but can he convince voters? richard wolffe and dean baker will weigh in next. newt gingrich, he's back at it. joins todd akin on the campaign trail and says mitt will change his mind. about supporting this candidate. i'll ask howard fineman how long the republican party will go,

how far they will go to try to win the senate. and romney says the uninsured can rely on emergency rooms for health care. but five years ago, he called the same practice socialism. we'll have the details. share your thoughts with us on facebook and on twitter using the hash tag edshow. we're coming right back.

welcome back to "the ed show." tax fairness is one of mitt romney's biggest problems. i have to tell you no wage earner i have spoken with thinks romney's 13 or 14% rate is fair. let's hear mitt romney's take on it one more time. >> is that fair to the guy who makes $50,000 and paid a higher

rate than you? >> it is a low rate and one of the reasons the capital gains tax rate is lower because capital has already been taxed once at the corporate level. as high as 35%. >> so you think it is fair? >> yeah. i think it's the right way to encourage economic growth to get people to invest, to start businesses, to put people to work. >> let's turn to msnbc political analyst richard wolffe and also dean baker, co-director for the center for economic policy and research and also author of the book "the end of loser liberalism." gentlemen, good to have you with us. richard, mitt romney overpaid to get a 14% tax rate. that's a heck of a rate. how is he going to sell that to the middle class? >> especially when he said he qualified he -- would not qualify to be president if he overpaid on his taxes. you know, look, start from just the purely political level. he is going to spend the next several days having to deal with

or read about questions about his taxes. the next several days takes him all the way up to the debate point, his last chance to really change the dynamic in this election. and he has wasted the buildup to it. bad politics on the timing. bad policy in terms of the fairness question. there's something else here. he claims that these are capital gains. and that he's a job creator. let's remember, this is a loophole for venture capitalist. he didn't go out and start a business in a basement. if he could tell that story, he would be in a better position with the american people. in fact, he's a financial guy. these are fees. it's a deferred income. it's a loophole. if you're looking to campaign as a reformer, someone to clean up the tax code, this isn't the way to do it. >> dean baker, romney defends his tax rate as fair in part of the double taxation argument. but the bottom line, isn't he gaming the system? >> he's totally gaming the system. a couple of points here. first off, my understanding bain capital is organized as a partnership. that means it's not even taxed at the corporate level.

so at least in his particular case, there is no story whatsoever. but a more general rule in terms of the policy, the special treatment of capital gains, somehow if you get income from capital you should pay a lower tax than if you work for a living, that -- it's important to keep in mind that tax at the corporate level is in fact a voluntary tax because anyone could organize a business as a partnership, in which case it's not taxed at the corporate level. partnerships don't pay taxes. anyone who has stock in a corporation, they made that decision that the value of corporate status, something given to you by the government is worth paying taxes at the corporate level. they voted with their feet to pay the taxes. so then for them to turn around and complain to us, sorry, we're supposed to be rugged individualists here. if you didn't understand the rul rules, you're playing the wrong game. >> richard, connecting with the middle class is something he simply has not been able to do. coming back and trying to tell them he paid a fair rate when he makes that kind of money, this is a huge disconnect. as i was just saying in the

opening block about monthly bills and people doing things when it comes to changing their lifestyle. if his rate were to go to 30%, 36%, his lifestyle wouldn't change. >> right. >> this is going to be the hard argument. >> that's where the 47% video is difficult for him to overcome. because it kind of explains it. why can he not connect? you could say he's a wealthy guy and that's one explanation. another is he doesn't try because he doesn't care about the kinds of people who may be struggling. for him, they are all some kind of victims and dependents and mooching on the rest of us. that is a problem for him in terms of the overall story. it's not just his values. >> yeah. >> it is what lies behind them. >> what about these chinese investments? problematic down the road? >> all the investments are. the offshoring, the chinese stuff, it's all contradictory. his basic position, it's not just about the personal side. these are tough choices ahead. what are the spending choices? is he the best person to make those choices?

is he the best person to make those choices? >> dean baker, your thoughts on that. >> it's kind of striking. going back to that 47% comment. he was giving us a very, very different story than either president reagan or president george w. bush said when they wanted to cut taxes for the rich. because their argument, maybe they didn't believe it, but their argument was this is the best way to help ordinary workers. we're going to create growth, lead to more jobs, it's going to help everyone. that's not what mitt romney was telling funders. he's saying they are hopeless, i'm writing them off. it was really quite striking. i don't know what you say. >> richard wolffe, dean baker, great to have you with us. i appreciate the discussion. thank you so much. next the candidate who coined the phrase "legitimate rape" is forcing mitt romney to make a decision. find out how a bad situation got worse for the republicans. and you won't believe why mitt romney threw a tantrum. he's got a major problem with latino voters, and his latest

stunt is just making things worse. stay tuned. [ male announcer ] the 2013 smart comes with 8 airbags, a crash management system and the world's only tridion safety cell which can withstand over three and a half tons. small in size. big on safety.

is efficiently absorbed in small continuous amounts. citracal slow release continuously releases calcium plus d with efficient absorption in one daily dose. citracal slow release. made gluten-free cereals in a bunch of yummy flavors. like cinnamon chex, honey nut chex, and chocolate chex... we're in cereal heaven. so thanks. from the mcgregors, 'cause we love chex. monarch of marketing analysis. with the ability to improve roi through seo all by cob. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle... and go. you can even take a full-size or above, and still pay the mid-size price. i'm going b-i-g. [ male announcer ] good choice business pro. good choice. go national. go like a pro.

[ male announcer ] good choice business pro. good choice. hethey don't need one,gh wes, clay and demarcus tried on the new depend real fit briefs for charity to prove how great the fit is even while playing pro football. the best protection now looks, fits and feels just like underwear. get a free sample and try one on for yourself. [ male announcer ] the exceedingly nimble, ridiculously agile, tight turning, fun to drive 2013 smart. ♪

welcome back to "the ed show." thanks for watching tonight. this election is getting worse and worse for republicans. today todd akin, remember him, and newt gingrich, here is a heck of a team, they managed to drag mitt romney right back into one of the ugliest senate races in the country. just what mitt needed. former house speaker newt gingrich campaigned with akin in missouri. akin is running against senator claire mccaskill.

he made headlines last month if you remember when he said he didn't believe a woman could get pregnant if she was the victim of a legitimate rape. >> it seems to me first of all, from what i understand from doctors, that's really rare. if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. >> yeah, if it's a legitimate rape. akin apologized, but mitt romney asked him to drop out of the race. >> i can't defend what he said. i can't defend him. >> akin defied romney and stayed in the race. here we are. now newt gingrich claims mitt romney will simply change his mind in a month or so. >> my expectation would be in the crunch in october, romney is going to be for the entire ticket and for todd akin. how many people are going to split their ticket and have a romney/mccaskill ticket? >> so the republicans i guess you could say are in somewhat of a bind, or is it a real bind?

romney can reverse his decision, he can defy his party and support a controversial candidate or he can write off control of the senate. meanwhile, another senate candidate has gone completely off script. video just surfaced showing wisconsin republican candidate tommy thompson saying that he would do away with medicare and medicaid. >> who better than me, who's already finished one of the entitlement programs to do away with medicaid and medicare? let's block-grant what the state has and allow the states to determine what's going to go into medicaid. democrat tammie baldwin is gain in the polls. at this point, you can forget about the national election. romney needs to win back the support of the candidates in his own party. joining me tonight howard fineman, nbc news political analyst and editorial director

of "the huffington post" media group. great to have you with us, howard. >> hi. >> will mitt romney flip-flop and support todd akin, do a reversal? and it would be a big one. do you think he'll go there? >> it depends on what the polls show. right now, todd akin is down by consensus maybe 6 or 7 points in missouri. i think that mitt romney will blow whichever way the wind does. if he finds it necessary ultimately to look the other way and unread todd akin out of the party, then he'll do it. but right now, right now he can stay away from it because akin is still down considerably. >> what do you make of newt gingrich going down and supporting this guy? newt has been quiet. he hasn't been in front of the tv cameras lately. so he picks todd akin. what is this all about? >> i think newt will go wherever he's really and truly wanted. and at this point, todd akin doesn't have many friends in the

national republican party. for that matter, neither does newt gingrich. so newt wants to go somewhere to try to be a hero and a savior to anybody who will view him as such. and todd akin is desperate enough to say come on, i need you. >> tojoked about his rape statement saying everybody does something dumb. here it is. >> saying something dumb disqualify you, joe biden couldn't be vice president. >> is that a fair comparison here? was akin's statement about legitimate rape just a dumb comment? >> no. a dumb comment is the kind of thing that newt gingrich did repeatedly during the campaign. but i think what todd akin did was reveal a world view, reveal a deeply-held world view, a glimpse into that world view that most of the rest of the

republican party, even the republican party, just couldn't admit to or couldn't accept. which it was just such a, sort of, ignorant and mechanistic view of the role of women that it was intolerable even for the republican party base. >> i mean, i think tommy thompson in wisconsin is really taking a gamble here, saying he's the one that is going to be able to get rid of medicare and medicaid. how damaging is thompson's criticism of the romney campaign? >> this is another one of those sort of secret may videos that are coming back to get the republicans in september. but there was another part of that video just after what you played, ed, in which tommy thompson says we'll put it on vouchers later on down the road. and by 2020 nobody is going to want to pick medicare rather than the vouchers because medicare is going to be broke.

and there what you see is an even deeper cynicism in which tommy thompson is saying, we're going to run medicare in the ground in the meantime so that when it comes to this choice they want to make between taking a voucher for a certain amount of money in medicare, medicare actually won't be a viable option. that's the most damaging part of what he said in my view because he explains the cynical mechanics behind it. and tammie baldwin, who is already ahead in that state i think is going to move farther ahead based on these comments, because it betrays a real cynicism on behalf of tommy thompson who is a guy who at least back in the old days had some support on a personal level in wisconsinment. >> yeah, this is the most radical he's ever been. >> right, exactly. >> interesting why he is going there. howard fineman, great to have you with us. thanks, howard. lots more coming up in "the ed show." stay with us. >> thank you. >> new polling shows mitt romney

getting destroyed among latino voters. tonight new details on how he allegedly threw a tantrum and stacked the crowd at the univision forum. and smith myth tells "60 minutes" his plan for the uninsured is a hospital emergency room. >> if someone has a heart attack, they don't sit in their apartment and die. >> tonight the fallout from the remarks that mitt romney used to call socialism. >> when they show up at the hospital, they get care, they get free care paid for by you and me. if that's not a form of socialism, i don't know what is. [ thunder crashes ] [ male announcer ] if you think all batteries are the same... consider this: when the unexpected happens, there's one brand of battery more emergency workers trust in their maglites:

duracell. one reason: duralock power preserve. it locks in power for up to 10 years in storage. guaranteed. so, whether it's 10 years' of life's sunny days... or... the occasional stormy one... trust goes a long way. duracell with duralock. trusted everywhere.

throughout our lives. one a day women's 50+ is a complete multivitamin designed for women's health concerns as we age. it has more of 7 antioxidants to support cell health. one a day 50+.

welcome back to "the ed show." mitt romney is struggling with hispanic voters. romney's latest stunt didn't help in the numbers a bit. if you watched romney's univision forum on wed, you may

have thought you were watching a tea party rally, because you were. >> how are you? nice to see you. thank you. and jorge, how you, my friend? good to see you. thank you so much. thank you. thanks, you guys. thank you. hi there. >> as buzzfeed reports, the romney campaign originally agreed to a crowd of mostly students from the university of miami. however, when they couldn't find enough students to fill the seats, the campaign started playing dirty. romney's campaign threatened to reschedule the event if they weren't allowed to bus in activists from around south florida. organizers caved and activists were brought in and ignored requests to hold the pause. one univision host said this, "we were a little bit thrown because it was supposed to be a tv show. it wasn't a rally. it was a little bit of disrespect for us." this wasn't the only demand from the romney campaign. romney almost cancelled the event himself.

just minutes before the show, apparently he was not impressed with his introduction. an anchor said romney agreed to a 35-minute event while president obama agreed to an hour-event. romney was invited out but he never showed. one republican at the taping said, quote, romney threw a tantrum. he refused to go on until the introduction was retaped. meanwhile, president obama held his forum the next night, and his campaign played by the ground rules. they struck -- they stuck by their argument and allowed a large chunk of the audience to be made up of students. the result was a well balanced and well-behaved audience. for more on this, let's bring in annette, a member of the miami-dade democratic party. great to have you with us tonight. the romney campaign made a point last week to say that their campaign, they outreach, the hispanic vote in florida is unprecedented for a republican.

then they pull a stunt like this. how is this going to play? >> well, it's obviously the same old same old. pretend, pretend, pretend and everything is false, everything is just a show. they don't follow the rules. obviously romney is all about just not following rules while obama was very happy to do an hour interview, very happy to answer the questions honestly, while romney just, you know, had to do his whole reinvention of how he feels about hispanics. i'm surprised he didn't come out with a sombrero on his head, because he was trying everything he could to pretend to love hispanics, to pretend to reinvent himself with his policies. but we all know very well he didn't answer the questions. and the questions that he did answer were in complete disagreement with everything he said in the past such as he is going to veto the dream act. everything about education he

didn't answer when they asked him the questions. they are not the policies that matter to us hispanics. >> does it show how desperate it is when he throws a tantrum because he doesn't like the introduction? >> well, of course he didn't like the introduction because then people were going to know that he didn't want to come on, but only for 30 minutes while obama was willing to do an hour. obama doesn't mind answering the tough questions. he doesn't mind being truthful with hispanics. because that's who he is. he's honest. he doesn't have anything to hide. this guy has everything to hide. >> so what is the conversation on spanish-speaking talk radio in florida? >> there's conservative talk radio and the regular talk radio which is of course talking about the fact that this happened. they have interviewed the actual anchors on univision where this news story broke from the news anchors telling us the difference between the two forums, telling us about the

temper tantrum, telling us all the difference in the audience because we, the democrats in the audience that were there, we behaved. we didn't boo them when they asked tough questions. they had every right to ask tough questions. >> this isn't the first time romney has pulled this kind of a trick. he flew supporters to the naacp speech in july. he used minors that were forced to attend a coal event in august. i think this speaks volumes of his campaign. and of course there is new polling out there that shows that 83% of latino voters are enthusiastic about voting in november. what does this mean for president obama? >> well, i believe that, you know, it just speaks volumes to the fact that latinos understand that obama has been there with latinos every step of the way. and, you know, the new tax policy, i mean, he's been talking about -- romney has been talking about his tax policy. we as latinos have children and

a lot of us have children and have families. we care about their education. romney just wants to cut that education budget. >> let me ask you about the taxes. do you think the 14% rate going back to a story we covered earlier tonight is a conversation in the latino community? middle-class families? lower income families, is it a fair rate? is this going to hurt him? >> i think here's the problem. most of us would lose our deductions for our kids of $2,000 just so that he can give a $250,000 deduction for millionaires? i mean we're middle class families. it's not going to go over well with latinos. and the latinos that are actually supporting romney better wake up and smell the cafe con leche. that's all i have to say. >> annette taddeo, thank you for your time. i appreciate it. coming up, mitt romney proves he doesn't understand the science of aviation. you won't believe what he said. stay tuned.

[ male announcer ] introducing a stunning work of technology. introducing the entirely new lexus es. and the first-ever es hybrid. this is the pursuit of perfection. [ male announcer ] why not talk to someone who owns an adjustable version of the most highly recommended bed in america? ask me about my tempur advanced ergo. goes up. goes up. ask me what it's like to get a massage anytime you want. goes down. goes down. [ male announcer ] tempur-pedic brand owners are more satisfied than owners of any traditional mattress brand. ergonomics. [ male announcer ] tempur-pedic. the most highly recommended bed in america. [ female announcer ] for more information or to find a retailer near you, visit tempurpedic.com.

as a pilot, this stuns me. up next, mitt romney thinks it's a problem that airplane windows don't open? i'll explain why it's a really bad idea. and in the big finish tonight, the national association of free clinics joins me to discuss romney's latest health care flip-flop. and what it means for the uninsured in america. we're coming right back. does your phone give you all day battery life ? droid does. and does it launch apps by voice while learning your voice ? launch cab4me. droid does. keep left at the fork. does it do turn-by-turn navigation ? droid does. with verizon, america's largest 4g lte network, and motorola, droid does. get $100 off select motorola 4g lte smartphones like the droid razr.

welcome back to "the ed show." a plane carrying ann romney from omaha to santa monica was forced to make an emergency landing after the pilot reported seeing smoke in the cockpit. an apparent electrical fire caused the charter plane's cabin to fill with smoke, prompting the pilot to divert to the denver airport where they landed and were met by emergency crews. fortunately, no injuries were reported. understandably husband relieved, mitt romney spoke about the ordeal on saturday at a beverly

hills fundraiser, and offered his unique take on aircraft safety. "i appreciate she's on the ground safe and sound and she i don't think she knows just how worried some of us were. when you have a fire in an aircraft, there's no place to go. you can't find any oxygen from outside the aircraft because the windows don't open. i don't know why they don't do that. it's a real problem." now in the grand scheme of telephone campaign, this is not anywhere near a big deal. but he said it. so we'd like to point out a couple things. first, anyone who has flown commercially knows that the cabins are pressurized. it's covered in that whole safety thing before you take off. and in corporate aircraft, they are pressurized too. you know when the flight attendant comes on and tells you all about the oxygen masks? second, every sixth grader learns about the atmosphere.

there's very little oxygen at the cruising altitude of a jet. and last but not least, the jet that ann romney was on flies at 500 miles per hour. probably about 40,000 feet. any clue what happens to stuff inside a plane going that fast with the windows open? now, you have to remember this his dog had a great time strapped to the roof of his car for a 12-hour drive. but this is also the man running for the presidency of the united states. you be the judge. ever thought you'd want to open up the windows of an aircraft at 30,000 feet? a little lower. i don't think so. and mitt romney says that's a problem. he doesn't know why they don't do that, but that's a problem. this guy that wants authority over the federal aviation administration.

i asked you in our survey, did you think mitt romney paid his fair share of taxes? 4% of you said yes. 96% said no. coming up, mitt romney really outdid himself with this answer on what to do with uninsured americans. that's next. copd makes it hard to breathe,

but with advair, i'm breathing better. so now i can be in the scene. advair is clinically proven to help significantly improve lung function. unlike most copd medications, advair contains both an anti-inflammatory and a long-acting bronchodilator working together to help improve your lung function all day. advair won't replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than twice a day. people with copd taking advair may have a higher chance of pneumonia. advair may increase your risk of osteoporosis and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking advair. if you're still having difficulty breathing, ask your doctor if including advair could help improve your lung function.

get your first full prescription free and save on refills at advaircopd.com. look! she wears the scarlet markings! [ man ] out! your kind is not welcome here! nor your odd predilections! miracle whip is tangy and sweet, not odd. [ man ] it's evil! if you'd try it, you'd know. she speaketh the truth! [ crowd gasps ] [ woman ] reverend? ♪ can i have some? ♪

made gluten-free cereals in a bunch of yummy flavors. like cinnamon chex, honey nut chex, and chocolate chex... we're in cereal heaven. so thanks. from the mcgregors, 'cause we love chex. in the big finish tonight, mitt romney's absolutely eye-popping answer on health care in this country. it's truly incredible. even by romney's standards. here's what romney said when he was asked, does the government have a responsibility to provide

health care to the 50 million americans in this country who don't have it today? >> well, we do provide care for people who don't have insurance. if someone has a heart attack, they don't sit in their apartment and die. we pick them up in an ambulance and take them to the hospital and give them care and different states have different ways of providing for that care. >> that's the most expensive way to do it. the emergency room. >> again, different states have different ways of doing that. some provide through clinics, some through emergency rooms. in my state, we found a solution that worked for my state. but i wouldn't take what we did in massachusetts and say to texas, you have to take the massachusetts model. >> romney is talking about the most inefficient and expensive way of providing health care in this country. and romney himself knows this. here he is in 2010. >> do you believe in universal coverage? >> sure.

it doesn't make a lot of sense for us to have millions and millions of people who have no health insurance and can go to the emergency room and get free care for which they have no responsibility. particularly those with sufficient means to pay their own way. we said, we have an idea. let's take all the money we have been spending to give out free care, paying hospitals that give out free care, and let's use those dollars to help those who can't afford it buy insurance. >> obviously in that interview, romney said the exact opposite of what he said in the "60 minutes" interview. there's no such thing as free care. americans without health insurance can go bankrupt from an emergency room visit or two. let's go a little further. a little further back in romney time. in the romney time machine to 2007. >> when they show up at the hospital, they get care, they get free care paid for by you and me.

if that's not a form of socialism, i don't know is. if people can afford to buy insurance, or if they can pay their own way, then they either buy that insurance, but they no longer look to government to hand out free care. that, in my opinion, is conservatism. that's why the heritage foundation worked with us and was at the celebration of the signing. >> oh, brother. in romney's book, he said he had an epiphany about how to direct emergency room money to people who needed health insurance. that's part of the reason romney care actually worked. now mitt romney is saying, just leave it up to the emergency rooms, which he called socialism back in 2007. mitt romney, you know what he needs to do? he needs to debate himself. we deserve it. i'm joined tonight by nicole lamaro, the director of free clinics. great to have you with us. you're out there doing great

work on behalf of the people. what's your response to mitt romney saying that we care for people without insurance because they just go get it at the emergency room? >> well, quite frankly, i was flabbergasted. to think the answer is to go to the emergency room, it's ludicrous. it's used for emergencies. sending the uninsured to an emergency room is absolutely, positively backwards. we want the uninsured to go to doctors to get the primary and preventive care that they need so that they can be productive members of society. sending them to the emergency room when their diseases have exploded is just sentencing them to death. >> romney also mentioned free clinics. can you even begin to address the burden of the uninsured in this country through free clinics? >> well, i can give you -- no.

let's be honest. free and charitable clinics are doing the best we can, but let's take this example. we're in texas right now. the state that he acknowledged. he said he would never do what happened in massachusetts and give it to texas. we're doing a free clinic on saturday. we already have 900 people registered to come and get care at a convention center. obviously, there's a dramatic need here in texas and across the country. our clinics are doing the work that they do with little to no federal or state support. but we rely on volunteers and donations. it's not our job to handle this entire problem of the uninsured. it just can't be done by us. >> the plan in massachusetts has worked, but he doesn't think it should be applied to other states. what about that? >> i find it absolutely amazing. we have 90 people already gi